Pathstomper Episode 4
by FantasyKaiju
Summary: The next episode in the series


Pathstomper

This is a non-profit fan-based parody. Ultraman and other various Ultra monsters are property of Tsuburaya Productions. Background, other monsters, and story elements are owned/inspired by Paizo Publishing. Support the official releases.

**Episode 4**

"I don't know how I got myself in this," says an eastern European-accented voice as a cityscape comes into view. "I am Telarnish Medvyed-Telarn for short," says the voice as in the background a grey, stone-skinned set of figures lumber across a bridge and into what is a military barricade of spearmen and archers. "Originally I started off as a son of a merchant man in Brevoy. I saw a few monks and they caught my eye. Eventually at 16, I asked to train as one from a master. He agreed reluctantly, but was soon impressed by my martial skill," muses Telarn as cartoony versions of him and a Gomora master monk appear on the screen doing standard practices of jumping jacks and practice punches. "Then after training, I did some travels, trained hard in the wilderness on my own terms, going on adventures, and raided a few dungeons; however I was captured by a mob of hobgoblinoids and dorobons before my current group liberated the camp," he says as a group of cartoony versions of Bonesmasher, King Joe, Ansmaro, Silver Fang, and Vrondi appear on screen. "That was a while ago, we migrated to the current city after a few run-ins with a few giant trolls and other things. It took about two weeks by foot, but we got here," he says as the camera pans back to the cityscape. "Little did we know that this city in Varisia is at war with a gang of Stone Giants," he sighs and says something incomprehensible to the viewers.

The group is huddled together, ready for combat, and Silver Fang shakes his head and grumbles, "We finally get to a town that I could meet with my church and terminate this fruitless mission; then this happens." Ansmaro looks at him and says coyly, "Well boyscout, this stone giant warlord is having this town's two bridges under siege so we, a few other mercenaries, and their militia are their only defenses." He nods and sighs, "You're right. We need to stick together and we can help these people win." Then suddenly from behind them an explosion is heard. They all turn and look to see that the brewery warehouse, on the other side of the island this city rests on, is on fire. They take off running and within minutes they see a juvenile red dragon crash down along the western side of the town. "Crap!" cries Silver Fang while Vrondi-who is 35 ft away calls him. "Hey Silver Fang!" the Eleking sorcerer says with a whisper that somehow he can hear. The Silvergon templar looks around and sees him farther away. "How are you doing that?" he questions and Vrondi messages back. "Magic," the magic user responds making hand gestures, "I call it instant messaging, but that's not important! We have to debuff the dragon!" Off camera a plethora of voices starts yelling, "A dragon?!" and "WE'RE so SCREWED, MAN!" Then a voice of the GM barks, "Hey! You are getting a dragon so deal with it!" and whines are heard off camera.

Silver Fang looks around confused, "Other people using that instant messaging?" Vrondi shrugs and Silver Fang draws his halberd. The group follows cautiously as the red dragon blasts a cart of beer barrels with its fiery breath. The creature bellows happily as the alcohol causes the flaming barrels to explode. The group has plans on how they are going to strike and they draw near, as the dragon maliciously wrecks the surrounding area near the brewery. Then all of a sudden Bonesmasher whistles at the creature from behind a cart-surprising the draconian-and quickly after, King Joe throws a flash bomb that creates a flash of light that blinds/disorients the beast. Telarn leaps into action immediately after! He channels elemental energy into his fists and strikes the ground in front of the dragon, causing the ground underneath the juvenile dragon to rupture and explode into a massive plume of debris! Silver Fang charges into battle, before striking, he channels "Smite Evil" at the dragon, and delivers a two-handed power attack with his halberd. His blow is even stronger than usual since he cast "Bull's Strength" on himself on route to the dragon a few minutes earlier. Bonesmasher rushes in and strikes the dragon with his massive club after going into a rage and violently striking with "Reckless Abandon". The juvenile dragon counters by grabbing Bonesmasher with its thick-muscled arm and thrashing the Redking about violently. Before throwing him to the ground a releasing a cone of flame that forces Silver Fang on the defensive! Silver Fang luckily has time to raise his shield and deflect most of the flame right in time. Telarn leaps out of the way of the licking flames. Vrondi shuffles by quickly and begins to make various gestures and symbols with his hands. Then after ending his gestures, the ground shakes near his feet and a gout of water explodes from the earth. It violently ejects from the ground and strikes the dragon in the face, extinguishing its flames. Steam fills the general area as the dragon cries out in surprise and blind rage! The creature roars violently and charges forth! Vrondi luckily dodges the creature's horned head and it strikes where he had been standing only seconds before and plows forward and leaves a giant gash in the wall of a close building.

King Joe rapidly inserts a "Draconic Reservoir" potion into a plug in his midsection and then spits a few autotuned insults at the dragon. Telarn tries to make an attack on the dragon by charging at it and making a leaping kick. However, the steam obscures his view and he crashes to the ground. Silver Fang luckily delivers another deep blow to the monster, while it rights itself. Bonesmasher gets up, only to grab his head and grumble loudly about pain. The wound severely injures the creature and is followed by hideous, angry cries. King Joe makes his way toward the dragon, but is then struck by the gout of flames that it spits at his direction. King Joe draws closer to the actions after the flames seem to be absorbed into his form and Silver Fang deals a violent strike with his scimitar that he pulls out and slashes the creature deeply with. Telarn, after getting up, batters the dragon with a quick swipe of his tail, knocking it backward. The battered draconian then sees the technic alchemist in front of him. He roars and takes a big bite out of him. Despite the sound of stress on his metal form, he is resolute and hammers the dragon with his now flaming fists. The creature lets go and its battered and bloodied form lets loose a howl before taking off and flying north.

The group regroups and within minutes they begin taking healing potions, Silver Fang uses his lay-on hands ability, and a few others do healing checks; the group is then back to a state that they can fight it. "We better get back to the two gates," Ansmaro says with concern. The group sets off back towards the south gate as they hear moaning and cracking wood. "I don't think the gate will hold for very long!" exclaims Vrondi Piscine and they pick up the pace. Then the sound of the gate crashing into splinters is heard. The group attempts to hurry and they see a few hundred feet in front of them a stone giant and a rune slave giant batters down one of the town gates. The stone giant with its rocky, grey exterior roared as it pushes down what was left of the gate as the balding, gaunt, more humanoid giant with purple, glowing runes etched all over his shoulders and back attempts to strike out with its club to install fear into the city's defenders.

A group of thirty soldiers: twenty ground troops that are armed with crossbows and ten archers fire their arrows and bolts at both of the giants. At their command is an Icarus war master that fires his own bolt from his crossbow. After this volley, the Icarus's enlarged, bat-like ears tense up and he orders another volley on both of the giants. The rune slave giant gives a horrendous cry of pain as the stone giant gives a shout of pain and surprise. The rune slave giant is able to force himself through the portal of the door and begins to charge! The archers ready their bows as the ground troops trade their crossbows for their pikes. The creature tramples three soldiers before a volley of bolts strike the rune-etched giant, causing him to fall to his knees before the pikemen finish the creature off. The stone giant picks up part of the great wooden door and hurls it at the group of troops. It crushes another five troops that are not lucky enough to dodge. The Icarus war master orders the group to reform and return fire. The arrows do their damage, but the giant, who is wounded severely, still charges and tears through the ranks that are not able to retreat. Bolts and pikes strike and make contact, until the creature falls over dead. The war master, one archer, and two pikeman ground troops are left out of the 31 troops that faced the giants. The group draws near to the survivors and so does a large, hulking form close in on the downed gate.

It is a stone giant that wields a giant bone axe! The giant wears a collection of bones and animal hides over its large body as it passes through the portal of the gate. The war master orders his three remaining troops to fire their bows at the giant before it draws too close. They fire their projectiles as the Icarus draws his crossbow as well. The giant gains on them and the war master delivers a cry of warning that makes the group scatter. Our heroes see this and spring into action! Ansmaro luckily is the first one who takes a critical shot with his pistol at a weak place on the giant's knee! It causes the creature to slow down and curse loudly in some form of the Hallit language. The war master fires a bolt from his bow and strikes the same knee, causing the creature to lurch forward painfully. Bonesmasher starts to throw himself into a rage before he takes off at the giant, while behind him King Joe seems to be rigging a crossbow bolt with an improvised explosive device. Silver Fang arms himself with his halberd and moves forward, watching the giant's now-impeded movements. Vrondi pulls out his Rime Rod he got in Ustalav and fires a spray of ice and cold at the giant, striking it within seconds. Telarn makes a quick sprint to the creature and strike the back of its other knee with a quick slash of his temple sword. The stone giant stumbles, but rights itself and is able to swing the blunt side of its axe into Telarn as he was making his escape. Telarn is sent reeling into the air before crashing through the roof of a house that was in close proximity to the city gate. Then it uses its axe to slash the top of a build's roof off. The rubble and debris kicks off a dust cloud that obscures the giant from view. Then from within the debris and dust a horrible, bellowing cry is heard. The giant emerges from the cloud of debris, hobbling with Bonesmasher still taking shots at him with his club. Bonesmasher is merely dangling with one hand dug into the creature's lower leg while striking it repeatedly in the leg with his club in the other hand. King Joe finally launches the IED arrow, he just crafted, and it sails through the air silently before exploding into a fiery blast against the chest of the giant. The monster takes one final strike with the blunt of end of its axe, to dislodge the Redking from his leg with a loud THUD! Bonesmasher falls off the leg in a stupor from getting struck in the head with such force, as the giant topples to the street.

The war master orders the remaining troops and his new allies to surround the giant as it lies prone and gives groans of pain. "You're defeated! Tell us what brought you here!" cries the Icarus with a very strong, intimidating voice. The giant gives a deep moan of pain and the Icarus barks again the same demand. "I won't tell you," he says as the group notices that since they were preoccupied with this giant and his followers, the other gate had been breached. The sounds of combat were loud and for a few minutes the group paused to hear what was transpiring, but after hearing a giant cry, "Retreat!" it didn't seem a problem. The war master continued to prod until the giant started babbling on about a stone giant sorcerer and his plans for domination, while the rest of the group tends to Bonesmasher and Silver Fang goes off to recover Telarn from the building. The war master Icarus merely is jotting down stuff the giant says on a personal notebook with a piece of graphite.

After everyone is accounted for a group of troops arrives and ties down the giant with heavy ropes and chains. Silver Fang sighs, "Glad that's over." "Hardly," barks the war master who marches toward Silver Fang and his group. The war master approaches the templar and extends his hand, "Thank you for coming to our aid. If not, we'd certainly be dead," says the Icarus in a very somber tone. Silver Fang nods and responds, "You're quite welcome." Though before anything else could leave Silver Fang's mouth, the war master added, "Thank you for joining our cause. We set out at dawn." Silver Fang and the others nearly did a double take! "Wha?" says Silver Fang dumbstruck. "You agreed to defend the town a few days ago, correct?" said the Icarus as its large ears twitched. Silver Fang nodded and the war master began again, "The contract for you and your men also includes preemptive defensive attacks on enemy targets." Silver Fang looks confused as the words hit him. "The stone giant leader has your object you been questing for and is planning another attack." The group looked at the war master with surprise and he repeated, "Tomorrow at dawn." The group looks at each other and the scene fades to black.

A white screen with big green, bold letters that read, "MONSTER FACTS" shows up on the screen before a large, grey humanoid crashes to the foreground. Above it appears the heading "STONE GIANT" in big, red letters. The creature looks around quizzically as Telarn narrates. "This is a common stone giant," he begins with the giant looking around to see if he can find who is talking. "They are a species indicative of northern regions that have hills and mountains." The stone giant wanders the screen, peering into the front of the screen at the audience. "They are a primitive species that have a tribal based society." The stone giant sits down on the ground and crosses his large, thick arms. "These creatures are known to attack villages for loot, but primarily they do this in territorial disputes." The creature pulls from a pouch on its hip, some tinder and two stones that it strikes together to build a fire. "They can also be very placid, as well. Ancient civilizations preferred them as slave stock, because of their might and heartiness," Telarn narrates as the giant pretends not to pay attention. "They are fearless warriors and…HEY! Stop setting the set on fire!" he cries in his eastern European accent. The giant seems to be unfazed and after a lot of name-calling by Telarn it smashes the screen in front of it and the scene fades to black.

The group picks up in the next scene with the Icarus war master and his three troops along a shallow creek in a picturesque mountain scene. Silver Fang breaks the third wall and turns to the screen while walking in front of his usual group, "Hey viewers, the war master is named Edmir, just saying to make sure you guys know that. We have been travelling for the last three days through these hills to find the stone giant camp that the raiding party was launched from." Edmir is in the lead and pulls out from a backpack a telescope and uses it to scour the landscape. "Find anything yet? Ansmaro asks sarcastically. "No, but we are on the right track, rogue," he says as his eyes narrow, "but we are on the right track." "What are we looking for exactly ?" autotunes the King Joe. The Icarus turns and the scene is filled with this studded-leather armor war master. "We are looking for old Thassilonian ruins that the stone giant sorcerer is using as a base," he says before coughing and taking a handkerchief from his belt pouch before wiping his mouth. "The giants are using the catacombs under the ruin as a hideout," he follows up and points to the stream they have been following for the last day, "and this stream will take us there."

The group continues as it has for the last few days with Edmir in the lead with his Shaplay archer and two footman-a Guts and a young, female Silvergon pikeman. The group trudged on upstream through shallow water as the stream went through rocky crevices and back out onto the rocky shore where it permitted. The day marched on and the group continued to progress. The sky grew dark with night and the group decided to pitch camp. The next scene cuts to everyone sitting around a warm fire and eating whatever they have on hand.

Telarn asks in his thick accent, "You know an awful lot about Thassilonian things I take it?" His question aimed at Edmir gets the response, "Well, in the academy, I didn't just study military matters." Then he sighed and continued, "Yes, I was quite the student." Ansmaro's eyes narrow," Oh really?" "Yes history, Thassilonian language, mathematics, and economics," the Icarus muses and sips from his cup a remainder of the tea that was in it before. Silver Fang asks, "Noble blood?" Edmir nods, "But I always wanted to fight and lead from the ranks of the people. Isn't that right?" His troops nod at once and the Guts pipes up, "He fights amongst us, like one of our own." The other two troops give a cheer for him and Edmir smiles a little. "Now, from what you guys are usually used to this is where a battle occurs at night," says a narrator off screen. The group hears this and looks around distraught. "No battle tonight," the voices says and they all give a sigh of relief.

The scene shifts to morning and the voice interjects before the camera pans from the sky to the ground, "Now there's a battle!" Then from off frame Bonesmasher is flung like a ragdoll. The camera pans right to the see a runeslave giant with his fist still extended side-by-side with a stone giant. Telarn is already underneath the foot of the stone giant and Edmir and his troops launch a volley of arrows and bolts at the stone giant to little effect. Silver Fang charges the runelsave giant and does a two-handed power attack with his magical mace. The force from the enchantment and his sheer strength (probably should count the damage "SMITE EVIL" does to this evil giant too right?) causes the creature to crash to his knee and grab his wounded knee. Vrondi sends a bolt of lightning and a few amber globes to deal more damage to the wounded giant. King Joe throws a jar of oozes that crashes into the stone giant. The oozes start doing their work by starting to burn through the giant's stone-like skin. Ansmaro sneaks up behind the runeslave giant and deals a severe gash into its back! The rune on the giant begins to glow red and within a flash of red light Ansmaro and Silver Fang are knocked backwards and flat to the ground. Both struggle to regain their bearings, because of a horrible ear-splitting sound that continues to ring in their heads. Bonesmasher gets up and shakes his head, he sees the giant on the ground reeling. Bonesmasher still is in a rage and rises to his feet. In a rush of speed, he delivers a mighty blow that knocks the runeslave giant over and out cold after taking off in a quick sprint. The troops of war master Edmir fire several shots at the stone giant to little avail. The oozes continue to eat their way up his body, forcing his foot off Telarn, who immediately, rises to his feet and shakes off the pain that racks his form. He uses his tail to strike against the ankle of the stone giant, causing visible pain to the giant. The war master takes a quick burst of speed and takes a quick strike at the giant with his powerful spear with both hands driving it deep into its leg. The creature back peddles and the others converge on this target. Within minutes, both giants have fallen. The group tends to its wounded/injured (mostly Telarn who got stepped on repeatedly off camera) and King Joe rushes around with a jar and tweezers for the oozes before the group sets off again. The scene begins to shift to the next as they wander off uphill through a rocky pathway.

Hours pass and they come to a massive cave in the midst of what appears to be fallen columns, stellas, and foundations for buildings that have been worn down by time in a sparsely vegetated area. The cave yawns ominously at them as its mouth is high enough for a giant to come through it. It also is wide enough for three giants to come out of at once! The Icarus war master looks at it and turns to the group, "This is it! I hope you have been on dungeoneering missions before." Silver Fang scoffs, "We have and we excelled at it! And you?" Edmir's ears twitch and his small eyes narrow, "Yes, we have and I'd like to see how we all do as a combined effort." Ansmaro mumbles under his breath, "First is divisive then wants to be all gung-ho now eh?" Silver Fang nods and Edmir asks bluntly, "What are you two prattling on about?" "Nothing!" they shout in unison. He scowls and turns back to the opening into the earth. "The giant attacks are based from somewhere down here," he mutters solemnly. "How do you know this?" Ansmaro asks with skepticism obvious in his voice. "I interrogated the fallen giant at the city, remember, pirate?" he responds with some hostility obvious in his voice. Ansmaro responds, "Maybe it's a trap hmmm?" Silver Fang butts between the two and shouts, "Guys! Let's not get sidetracked with in-fighting! Ansmaro, you can go inside the tunnel's mouth for about 100 ft with King Joe and look for traps alright?" "Huh?! Why me?!" he bellows in response. Silver Fang looks at him intensely, "It's what you guys kind do, right?" "I guess," Ansmaro answers and then sighs.

The two set off into the cave and get to work. The rest of group watches them wander off into the murk. They start to engage in idle conversation for the equivalent of twenty minutes and the pair return. "Back already?" Edmir asks with a smirk. King Joe and Ansmaro report that the area is free of traps. The group looks at each other, Bonesmasher shrugs vacantly when the camera focuses on him. The group sets off down into the tunnel after deliberating if they were going to make the journey now for several minutes.

The descent into darkness is guided by a bulleye's eye lantern, some sun rods, and some torches. The group travels at least 200ft inside the cave before coming to what appears to be a gigantic door on one side of the wall. There's a smaller door beside it and the Icarus says quietly," Slave pens…" "Eh?" Ansmaro swivels his head and looks at him. "Slave pens for stone giants," Edmir says with a deep breath and continues," The smaller room is for slave masters."The Guts footman opens the door cautiously and looks inside, soon after he motions for the others to go inside after him. The troops examine the room that was the slave masters' and the Silvergon looks especially at the room and artifacts of torture (whips and barbed ropes) with disgust. There's an entrance that leads into the slave pens close to the initial entrance and the group is surprised how tall the slave pens are. They are at least eighty-five feet tall and the area has been converted into a makeshift guardhouse by the giants. Polearms made for giants stand in a corner and a giant-sized candle still flickers in the middle of the room on a massive table. "So there is someone who is still here," autotunes King Joe as his front panels light up. "Not at the moment," responds Silver Fang, "but not wanting to stick around and be seen." The party emerges back into the hallway cautiously and passes a few more of these pens as the travel. Some are obviously occupied by soldier giants, but they slip away in the murk luckily because of their size and the fact the giants aren't paying attention to the hallway.

After about two miles, the group finds a normal sized door that seems to be off its hinges. Ansmaro examines the door and slips past it and exclaims, "You guys may want to see what is in here!" They all filter in and they are greeted by what is the remnant of a Thassilonian armory. Racks of armor line the central rows, while weapons are kept on the walls. Vrondi turns his head around and with surprise cries, "What a collection of artifacts!" Edmir looks at the Eleking with his ears twitching, "How can you see that? You're blind?" "Magic and lazy writers," responds the sorcerer. The group examines a large, glass display case that houses what appears to be a spear, shield, medallion, and a whip. Silver Fang breaks open the case and gives out the whip to Edmir, the spear to the Silvergon soldier, the Guts soldier takes the shield, and the Shaplay trooper takes the medallion. "Vrondi what do they do?" questions the Silvergon templar. Vrondi examines the items and notes, "The medallion creates a once-a-day power that creates a shield around the user for a few moments. The spear has a magical lightening enchantment on it. The whip can extend/stretch four times its length. The shield can magically repel any negative energy attack or spell as well," he spouts in response. Silver fang nods to them, "There you go. We have magic gear so you should too." Ansmaro can be heard in the background making a disparaging remark in response to the comment. Seconds later within the depths of the chamber strange rustling is heard and almost like a horrible scraping against the floor becomes a dominant sound in the air.

Soon, within seconds, two Golgolems reveal themselves to the group. Their stone bodies with crimson non-tissue are very visible as well as their back crystals and strange rocky growths that erupt from their backs in strange curves. They both bellowed at the party in a guttural tone that showed their aggression. Their maws snap fiercely and their eyespots that dot their heads glow yellowish light as they stand their ground. Vrondi is about to use his Rime Rod before being blasted by several fireballs from one of the Golgolem's open maw. He lands several feet away smoldering and barely can get up. Ansmaro dodges several energy bolts that appear with a thunderous bang from the area around the dorsal area of the crystalline creatures. The two creatures charge the group, and luckily Silver Fang raises his shield to deflect the brunt of the force from the creature that slams into him with a, "A little help here would be great!" Off camera the Silvergon soldier replies in a voice that shows effort and strain, "We got our own problems over here with the second one!" A sound like the crackle of lightening is heard from by Silver Fang and he believes she used her lightening enchantment against the other Golgolem. Very soon after the weight against his shield is relieved and Silver Fang notices that Bonesmasher has punched the monster's mouth tendril that its mouth extends from its form when trying to attack. The creature's tendril retracts and its shakes its head, trying to regain its bearings before it is assailed again, this time by the massive club of the Red King barbarian crashing down against its head. The creature recoils and steadies itself, assuming a defensive position. Silver Fang now saw that the other had launched fireballs at the others, which King Joe's ring of shielding created a magical shield in front of him that took the strikes from the fireballs and Telarn dodging these blasts and seeing his foot swing against the creature's jaws-dislocating it entirely! The creature backs away and forms a blue energy dome around itself.

The shielded Golgolem bellows hideously and snarls at them. The Silvergon pikewoman takes another two-handed strike at the shield and the strike is deflected by the forcefield. King Joe luckily primes a grenade and tosses it at the creature. When it explodes, the force breaks the field and with lightening reflexes Edmir uses his whip to wrap around the creature's front legs, bring it crashing to the floor of the dungeon. The Shaplay bowman hits the creature with a heavy arrow that pierces its neck region and makes the creature cry out in utter pain and shock. The guts trooper repeated the attack with his crossbow, dealing a superficial wound to the creature, however. The Golgolem had enough! It staggers to its feet and becomes invisible leaving no trace of where it is.

The other attacks with its tendrilled mouth and it clamps down on Bonesmasher's arm. It draws blood as its teeth dig through his simple armor. Ansmaro quickly darts out and slashes the appendage with his rapier, severely damaging it! The creature lets go of the barbarian and with a deafening howl it pulls back its mouth tendril and it becomes invisible too. The group stands in a defensive stance for a few minutes before realizing both creatures have retreated. "Anyone want to help Vrondi?" asks Ansmaro who is standing close to the singed sorcerer. The group rushes over to him and he gets to his feet and responds in a haggard manner, "I'm okay, just a bit cooked, but I'm fine. Old Vrondi can take a few fireballs and be knocked to the ground, so don't worry about him!" Ansmaro looks at coyly and says point blank, "Sarcasm is my stuff." The scene fades to black.

A white screen with big green, bold letters that read, "MONSTER FACTS" shows up on the screen before a large, rocky-skinned creature with bands of red tissue between the craggy parts of carapace that creature sport. Above it appears the heading "Golgolem" in big, red letters as the creature snaps violently away at the type overhead. Edmir's voice is heard off –camera, "But I never have done anything like this before." Then silence ensues while the creature on the screen looks confused. "Fine! Ahem*! Welcome to Monster Facts and today we'll talk about the Golgolem," he says in a dignified manner. "These wretched beasts are what the Plane of Earth has for demons," he says as the creature snarls and growls uncontrollably. "They have strong builds, great strength, and have powerful jaws that extend to strike at prey." He narrates as the Golgolem's jaws lash out on an elongated tube and snap at the screen. The creature starts to glow and emits lightning bolts from the yellow dots that line the red bands. "Golgolems also have a powerful internal energy engine that allows them to fire lightning bolts, fireballs from their mouths, create energy shields, and even phase through matter," Edmir narrates before snapping and crying aloud, "THEY CAN!? That's utterly horrifying!" The creature stops and it shambles about as Edmir grasps for normality. "These creatures also have crystalline growths on their backs that help them achieve this and form a symbiotic relationship," he continues. "The one major way of slaying these monsters is to destroy the tendril that their mouths protrude from," he says with resolve before the creature turns off-camera and charges. "Noo! It's coming right for me!" he screams as the scene fades to black.

The scene begins with the group continuing down a dark hallway. Silver Fang narrates as the group trudges onward, "We have been at this dungeon crawl for two hours already." He clears his throat, "We faced off against two rune slave giants," he says as the scene flashes to another where Telarn dodges the blows of the giant while Bonesmasher launches himself at the giant, before it returns to the scene of the group going down the hallway. They trudge on and he continues, "We also were able to take down a stone giant guard." The scene flashes to the group assailing a giant soldier that is on the defensive with Silver Fang in the lead beside Edmir, before it switches back to them walking down the dank hallway. Ansmaro clears his throat, "How far are we going? We been crawling through here for two hours I think." Edmir looks around, "I think we have gone pretty deep, but we still need to go deeper." Silver Fang snarls, "Do you know who this leader of theirs is anyway?" "Mokmurian, a stone giant wizard, who passes himself off as a sorcerer," he says and carries on and switches his sun rod to his other hand. Bonesmasher notices something and barks, "Hey! Light ahead!" The group gets close to a great gaping maw in the wall that sickly, yellow light radiates from it. "It's Mokmurian's laboratory!" exclaims Edmir. Ansmaro sniffs the air and whispers to Silver Fang, "That smells like dirt mixed with alchemical crap."

The group carefully proceeds toward the yawning hole in the dungeon wall. Vrondi Piscine stops the group and quietly intercedes with, "There could be magic traps or alarms about."" "Can you check for some?" Edmir inquires with concern. "I can try with "Sense Magic"," he answers. He proceeds to cast the spell and within seconds his body glows with a light blue energy and then seconds later it evaporates. "So?" questions the Silvergon pikewoman. "Magic, defiantly magic," he responds in a humdrum way. The rest of the group facepalms simultaneously in total dismay. "How much of it?!" angrily, but quietly exclaims Silver Fang. "A lot of it," responds Vrondi. "Not helping," says a very despondent Ansmaro. "Though, I figured out from the type of magiks that there is an alarm system," the sorcerer tells the group with great resolve. "Just dandy," mutters Edmir. "Can you do something about it?" autotunes the mechanized alchemist. Vrondi shakes his head, "It's too strong and it's been reinforced several times over," the Eleking responds quietly. Edmir scoffs, "Maybe we should just waltz in." The group looks at him and Silver Fang nods, "Well, I know what you are saying is sarcasm, but I'm fine with going on in if there is no other way." "This is madness," Edmir exclaims while Silver Fang proceeds onward. He passes through the portal of the hole and all the sudden a horrendous screech is heard. "Now you've done it!" cries Edmir.

The group is on guard with their weapons drawn as they follow suit into the yawning hole. They see a massive chamber littered with giant books and runes that dot the walls. Within seconds a flurry of bolts strike King Joe and Edmir that are on the right flank of the group. They are hit with four bolts each and flung backwards onto their backs after the bolts detonate against them. Silver Fang grabs King Joe and the troops of Edmir see to his aid. They get up and have no injuries, though a voice from off camera shrieks, "But they lost half of their HP respectively!" Then out of the shadows lumbers a 15ft tall, crystalline stone giant with a staff. "Mokmurian!" cries Edmir before the giant points at him and Edmir's mouth continues to move, but without sound. Ansmaro sighs, "So now we are in his clutches and he is going to rave on about his evil plan. How cliché'." The giant looks at them and speaks, "Good that I silenced that bat-like thing you have in your party. You are here to either to rob me or stop my plans I take it?" Off-camera Ansmaro responds, "A bit of column A and a bit of column B." He then continues with a scowl on his face as he glares off-camera, "I will put an end to you, lot." With that, upon the top of the screen flashes a small strip of blue with cartoon versions of our heroes and a strip of red at the bottom with a cartoony version of Mokmurian and a "VS!" graphic in between them. "I think we just ripped off Pokemon," shudders Silver Fang. The camera pans to Silver Fang, so closely in fact, you can only see his face. He has a thought, "I don't know why, but I have a feeling I'm missing something." The camera's view switches quickly to a gang of stone giants around a fire. One with an ornate chest plate looks at the camera and says, "Hi. I'm Coma and according to the script the player characters were supposed to find us and engage us diplomatically, cause to be honest, we think Mokmurian is a power-hungry jerk. Yet," he pauses and sighs while the other three stone giants shake their heads, "that didn't really happen. Best talk to our agents." The screen quickly switches back to the scene of battle that has already began to transpire.

Telarn and Bonesmasher quickly charge at the stone giant as he waves his hand and utters a trigger word, then an explosive ball of fire covers both Telarn and Bonesmasher. After it dissipates, Telarn is on the ground, rolling around to put out the flames, while Bonesmasher runs in a circle in surprise while his rear smolders. Silver Fang uses "SMITE EVIL" on Mokmurian and proceeds to charge at the giant as well. The giant has a devious grin and as Silver Fang closes the distance the floor turns to a waxy sheet that launches him headfirst toward the giant, who has a staff ready to strike him with. With luck, Mokmurian misses and Silver Fang slashes at one of his thighs with his scimitar. While in confusion and pain, Ansmaro sneak attacks the giant with a quick slash from his rapier along the spell caster's back, "See! Always watch your back, giant!" Edmir tells his troops to attack with their bows. They do fire, but they do little damage to the stone giant. Vrondi on the other hand uses the ice spell from his rod and uses a torrent of water he summons to strike the giant with so much force that he almost is knocked to the ground. King Joe gets back on his feet reeling and-promptly falls back down with a mechanical "Owww…"

Telarn puts himself out and charges the giant, dealing several visceral punches to the giant's gut, before being struck by Mokmurian's own giant stone fist. Bonesmasher finally puts himself out as well, but has Telarn hurled into him by Mokmurian. While the camera focuses on those two, Silver Fang attacks the spell caster from behind with a strong, two-handed blow with the scimitar that the camera quickly pans to. The howl the giant releases is deafening, and is lengthened by a quick throw attack by the Silvergon trooper with her magic spear turning into a bolt of lightning and striking him in the knee. Mokmurian triggers another spell by saying a strange word under his breath and gesturing a strange formation with his hands and then a flurry of energy bolts appears in front of him! Three strike the Silvergon soldier and the other five strike Edmir dead on. Edmir cries aloud and goes silent, his life leaves his body as his two attendants try hopelessly to revive him as the female trooper, staggers to her feet and cries aloud to the giant, "Damned murderer!" Ansmaro quickly fires a shot from his pistol at the giant-that does little damage and just gets the attention of Mokmurian's ire. King Joe luckily hurls a bomb at the distracted wizard and it detonates, hurting him quite badly and surprising him. The giant does one last series of gestures before he grins with malicious intent and with great focre Silver Fang feels a massive punch against the left side of his face, then the right, then under his chin, and then crashing down on his head. His vision blurred and head throbbing, he notices that the same thing happened for King Joe who lay injured and dented on the ground away from him.

"I have won this!" cries Mokmurian as he rises to his feet with great laughter. "You're all broken and injured," he cackles. He then remembers Vrondi Piscine and turns to look at him quickly. Vrondi is in the middle of casting a spell and retorts, "forgot about me?! GEYSER!" With that, the ground under Mokmurian buckles and a massive geyser of water explodes upwards, consuming the giant in steaming water. It lasts twenty seconds, but after it subsides the giant wizard is barely able to get up. Mokmurian is about to say something when a purple aura covers his body and begins to contort. His eyes glow yellow and he is lifted off the ground by a strange force that causes his body to levitate. The entire party sees this and is shocked. A voice that sounds quite female and very mocking comes out, "You defeated my failure of a puppet? Good for you. I will wait for you at the ruins of the Vault of Xin-lhast six months from now. Don't disappoint the Runelord of Wrath, Kamila, because I'm expecting much from you." With that, Mokmurian's neck snaps and his body falls to the ground lifelessly. Off camera the player party's cries of "What the heck was that?! And "Oh my GOD!" were heard as Silver Fang rose to his feet and moaned, "Voices coming out of possessed giants and disembodied voices? I AM going crazy!"

The group picks itself up and brings itself back together while the female Silvergon trooper asks Vrondi, "Can you bring Edmir back to life?" He shakes his head, "I cannot, and since the trek back to the city takes too long, we won't be able to restore him to true life. Maybe necroman- OFF!" He is quickly silenced by Ansmaro who elbows him for even trying to suggest necromancy. The group decides to take the body back out to the exit, bury him, and say their respects. The group moves off as the sun sets, while in each of their minds the words of the stone giant before his death make them fear the future.

Credits roll and on a side screen a scene appears that says in bold letters, "Dragons and Draconic Species". A narrator begins and it is Edmir, who starts off with saying, "Bringing me back from the dead to do credits? Undignified." The scene behind the credits shows a blue, quadropedal saurian creature with two horns on its head and a horn on its nose. "That's a Kingsaurus, not a dragon! Kind of close," Edmir's voice echoes in surprise as the creature meanders on screen. "True dragons have wings and are categorized into three sub-types: Metallic, Chromatic, and Primal," he says after clearing his throat. "being dead can really clog up the pipes," the screen changes to a similar sight-a pale, blue dragon with wings and lots of spines. "This brine dragon is a primal dragon. They exist on the various elemental planes and are extremely varied in alignment and behavior," he says as the creature cackles and slams into water that is below. "Well, at least it wasn't a magma dragon," he mutters. Next on screen a massive red, fire-breathing dragon appears above a tower and begins to lay waste to it with his massive, cone of fire. "Chromatic dragons like reds, whites, blues, greens, and blacks are primarily evil and are destructive and/or greedy," he continues," Like this red who is having a blast." The creature fades and is replaced by a regal-looking golden dragon. "Metallic dragons, like that one, are most likely good and noble. They consist of silver, gold, brass, and copper dragons." Then a myriad of unsettling shadows pop into view, "Then there are creatures that have dragon blood in them and for some it disfigures them, because the dragon blood is too much for them to handle." The images and credits stop, "Are we done now? Oh Okay. Can I go back to being dead now?"


End file.
